W. James Antle III

The primary race is more than a year away, but Tennessee Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander isn’t taking any chances — he’s launching a six-figure television ad campaign featuring Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul.

The ad will run on television and radio statewide July 8-21 at a total cost in excess of $200,000, CQ Roll Call reported Friday.

“Nobody wants to say no to Lamar Alexander,” Paul said in the spot, which touts Alexander’s role in passing the Freedom to Fish Act.

The bill, which President Barack Obama signed into law in June, imposes a two-year moratorium on the Army Corps of Engineers’ plan to install physical barriers that would have stopped fishing around area dams.

“We don’t want a government that is strong enough to make our lives risk-free,”Alexander said in the ad. “We can do that for ourselves.”

The footage appears to be taken from both men speaking in public.

The ad is a preemptive strike against any possible Republican primary challenger in 2014. A June fundraising email from the Senate Conservatives Fund listed Alexander alongside South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Maine Sen. Susan Collins as three Republicans the group would support primaries against if “strong, conservative challengers emerge.”

One name that has come up as a possible Alexander challenger is professional wrestler Glenn Jacobs, better known as Kane.

Jacobs, who has written op-eds for The Daily Caller, is popular with Paul’s libertarian supporters. Jacobs recently appeared at Ron Paul’s star-studded Lake Jackson, Texas barbecue, which also featured actor Vince Vaughn.

Ron Paul, a former Texas congressman and presidential candidate, is Senator Paul’s father.

Alexander, who is also a former governor of Tennessee, will be seeking his third Senate term. The primary is scheduled for August 7, 2014.

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